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A  COMPARISON  OF  THE  TRANS- 
APPALACHIAN  RAILROADS 


By  A,  E.  Parkins 

Stale  Norm!  College,   Ypsilanli,  Mich. 


Reprinted  from 

THE  JOURNAL  OF  GEOGRAPHY 
Vol.  IX.,  No.  V.  January,  1911 


•^n^/^  imivEHsnYoruMOB 

y*  -'  27  0CT1914 

THE  JOURNAL  OF 
GKOGRAPHY 

VOL.  IX  JANUARY,  1911  NO.  5 

A  COMPAKISON  OF  THE  TKANS-APPALACHIAN  KAILKOADS 

By  A.  E.  Paekins 

State  Normal  College,  Ypsilanti,  Mich. 

If  one  were  to  draw  a  cross  profile  of  the  Appalachian  system  of 
ridges,  and  let  a  line  ten  inches  long  represent  the  distance  between  the 
^lississippi  Kiver  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  along  the  fortieth  parallel,  the 
Appalachians  would  be  representcnl  by  a  mere  thickening  of  the  line; 
for  the  highest  ridge  would  need  be  represented  by  an  elevation  of  but 
one-two  hundredth  of  an  inch.  But  small  as  they  seem  when  compared 
with  the  broad  expanse  of  plain  to  east  and  west,  they  have  an  importiint 
bearing  on  the  location  of  trade  routes,  on  determining  the  importance  of 
such  routes,  on  the  distribution  and  gi'owth  of  cities,  and  have  had  an 
important  bearing  on  the  whole  trend  of  historic  events  from  the  time 
our  forefathers  began  to  leave  the  seaboard  and  extend  their  civilization 
westward.  Such  an  important  bearing  did  they  have  on  this  expansion 
in  the  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and  early  nineteenth  centuries  that  they 
have  been  termed  by  writers  "The  Appalachian  Barrier." 

This  barrier  consists  mainly  of  two  important  ridges,  the  Blue  Ridge 
on  the  east  and  the  Alleghany  Front,  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Alleghany 
plateau,  on  the  west.  Between  these  two  ridges  lies  a  region  called  by 
physiographers  "The  Great  Appalachian  Valley,"  which  extends  from 
Georgia  northeastward  to  the  Hudson,  and  there,  taking  a  northerly 
trend,  forms  the  depression  between  the  Catskills  and  Adirondacks  on 
the  west  and  the  Berkshires  and  Green  Mountains  on  the  east. 

In  Fig.  1  the  Blue  Ridge  shows  itself  as  a  few  slight  ridges  in  north- 
ern New  Jersey.  In  Pennsylvania  it  is  almost  lacking,  but  in  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina  it  rises  to  elevations  of  over  three  thousand  feet. 
The  xVlleghany  Front  in  the  north  is  encountered  at  the  east  edge  of  the 
Catskill  Mountains.  In  oast  Pennsylvania  it  is  of  slight  elevation,  but  in 
western  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  eastern  West  Virginia  it  rises 
to  bold  ridges  and  peaks,  in  some  places  over  four  thousand  feet  above 
sea  level.  It  again  sinks  to  insignificance  in  eastern  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee. The  Great  Appalachian  Valley  in  the  north  is  naiTow  and  cut 
up  by  many  short  ridges  more  or  less  parallel  to  one  another  and 
to  the  Blue  Ridge.  In  the  south  it  broadens  and  opens  out  upon  the  Gulf 
Coastal  Plain  in  Georgia  and  Alabama. 


114 


THE  JOURNAL  OF  GEOGRAPHY 


January 


In  the  north  this  Great  Valley  is  drained  by  rivers  flowing  eastward 
into  the  Atlantic — the  Hudson,  Delaware,  Susquehanna  and  Potomac. 
Farther  south  the  drainage  is  to  the  west,  while  at  the  south  the  rivers 
extend  to  the  southwest.    The  Hudson  flows  lengthwise  of  the  valley  like 


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Fig.  1. — The  Important  Railroads  of  the  Appalachians  and  the  Relief. 
The  several  roads  are  represented  hy  numbers. 

1.  The  New  York  Central  with  the  Boston  and  Maine  from  Albany  to  Boston.  2.  The 
Erie.  ^.  The  Lehigh  Valley.  A.  The  Pennsylvania.  5.  The  Baltimore  and 
Ohio.     6.  The  Chesapeake  and  Ohio.     7.  The  Norfolk  and  Western. 

the  rivers  of  the  South;  but  the  Delaware,  Susquehanna  and  Potomac, 
which  rise  far  over  on  the  plateau  to  the  west  of  the  Alleghany  Front, 
extend  across  the  valley,  cross  through  the  ridges,  and  escape  through 
gaps  in  the  Blue  Ridge. 


1911  TRANS-APPALACHIAN  RAILROADS  115 

The  great  difficulty  encountered  by  the  emigrant  and  railroad  builder 
in  crossing  the  Appalachian  barrier  was  not  in  the  Blue  Kidge,  for  this 
could  be  crossed  through  the  gaps.  Nor  was  it  in  the  ridges  in  the  Great 
Valley ;  these  too  had  gaps.  The  greatest  obstacle  was  the  surmounting  of 
that  bold  front  of  the  Alleghany  Plateau.  All  the  trans- Appalachian 
roads  except  the  New  York  Central  and  the  Erie  have  to  overcome  this 
two-thousand-foot  obstacle.  Every  train  passing  westward  across  the 
region  must  lift  its  burden  up  these  two  thousand  feet,  and  every  train 
moving  eastward  from  tlie  Ohio  River  must  rise  from  twelve  hundred  to 
fifteen  hundred  feet.  IJut  not  so,  Iiowever,  with  the  roads  along  the  Hud- 
son-Mohawk route.  The  Hudson  Valley,  joined  by  the  Mohawk  from  the 
west,  forms  the  only  natural  outlet  to  tlie  east  from  tlie  Great  Central 
Valley  of  Ncjrth  America  and  has  well  been  called  "The  Eastern  Gate- 
way of  the  United  States." 

Figure  1  shows  the  routes  taken  by  the  several  roads.  Three  lead 
from  Buffalo  to  New  York.  Each  of  these  roads  has  extended  its  line 
to  the  western  termini  of  the  (ireat  Lakes  by  means  of  steamboat  lines. 
The  four  roads  to  the  south  tap  the  great  agricultural  region  of  Kentucky, 
Oliio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  with  a  few  lines  extending  to  the  Erie  lake- 
ports.  Figure  2  gives  the  profiles  of  these  various  roads  and  shows  the 
great  advantage  of  the  New  York  Central  over  the  other  routes,  when 
lift  or  grade  is  considered.  Its  highest  altitude  is  reached  at  Batavia, 
about  nine  hundred  feet,  and  another  slight  rise  at  Rome,  up  to  four 
hundred  forty-five  feet.  Almost  parallel  to  this  road  and  taking  ad- 
vantages of  the  same  low  grade  is  the  West  Shore,  not  shown  in  pro- 
files or  map.  The  Erie  (No.  2),  after  leaving  the  Hudson  river  passes 
through  a  gap  at  Paterson,  winds  among  the  Highlands  of  New  Jersey, 
and  reaches  at  Middletown,  N.  Y.  an  elevation  of  five  hundred  sixty-two 
feet.  Near  I^ort  Jervis  it  descends  into  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  and 
continues  in  this  to  the  northeast  corner  of  Pennsylvania.  East  of  Bing- 
hiimton,  N.  Y.,  at  Gulf  Summit  it  crosses  over  the  divide  between  the 
Delaware  and  upper  Susquehanna,  reaching  a  height  of  thirteen  hun- 
dred sixty-four  feet.  It  descends  one  branch  of  the  Susquehanna  and 
then  ascends  another  coming  in  from  the  northwest,  finally  attaining 
its  gi'eatest  elevation,  1400  feet,  where  it  crosses  the  terminal  moraine 
just  west  of  the  Genesee  river;  this  is  five  hundred  feet  above  the  highest 
point  readied  by  the  New  York  Central. 

The  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  after  crossing  northern  New  Jersey  to 
tlie  Delaware  ascends  the  Lehigh  River  to  Bridgeport.  Its  greatest  lift 
is  found  when  it  crosses  over  the  divide  between  the  Delaware  and  Sus- 
quehanna, at  Glen  Summit  Springs,  where  it  reaches  an  altitude  of  about 
1750  feet.     We  have  seen  that  the  Erie  road  crosses  the  same  divide 


*Note. — The   Erie,  however,  at  two  points   reaches  elevations   of  about  fourteen 
hundred  feet. 


116 


THE  JOUKNAL  OF  GEOGKAPHY 


January 


at  a  much  lower  level.  This  elevation  on  the  Lehigli  Valley  road  corres- 
ponds to  the  Alleghany  Front  found  by  tlie  other  roads  further  south. 
The  Pennsylvania  Kailroad  encounters  the  Alleghany  Front  near  Cres- 
son,  crossing  it  at  an  elevation  of  about  two  thousand  feet.    The  Balti- 


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G.    f^OrfolJ^    OnaWfifrrr,     f?.R 


Fig. — 2.  Profiles  of  Trans- Appalachian  Railroads. 
is  125  times  the  horizontal.* 


The  vertical  scale 


more  and  Ohio  surmounts  the  plateau  in  western  Maryland  near  Oakland 
at  an  elevation  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet;  the  Ches- 
apeake and  Ohio  near  Alleghany ;  and  the  Norfolk  and  Western  at  Blue- 


*Nate. — Based  on  altitudes  in  the  Dictionary  of  Altitudes  by  Gannett.  The  alti- 
tude of  each  Station  on  each  line  was  found  and  the  elevations  between  stations  were 
checked  up  by  as  many  contour  maps  as  were  available.  There  may  be  slight  defects, 
but  in  the  main  the  profiles  are  true.     See  figures  in  the  text  for  exact  values. 


1911  TKAXS-APPALACHIAX  HAILKOADS  117 

fields  in  West  Virginia.    In  all  these  routes  the  advantage  of  the  northern 
route  is  clearly  shown  by  a  coniiiarison  of  the  profiles. 

liut  the  most  striking  thing  that  conies  out  in  this  conii>arison  of  the 
profiles  of  these  Trans-Appalachian  Kaihvays  is  the  almost  continuous 
down  gi'ade  of  the  roads  between  Buffalo  and  New  York  by  way  of  tlie 
Mohawk  and  Hudson  rivers.  The  only  distinct  rises  on  the  whole  route 
are  just  east  of  Buffalo  and  at  Home.  lYom  Albany  to  New  York  there 
is  an  imperceptible  down  grade.  How  different  is  the  route  to  Boston  as 
shown  by  the  Boston  and  Maine  profile!  Had  the  merchants  of  Boston 
early  been  made  to  understand  the  significance  of  wiiat  is  revealed  in 
these  two  profiles,  they  would  not  have  been  liable  to  such  a  huge  disap- 
pointment on  the  completion  of  this  line.  The  story  of  this  road  is  an 
interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  transportation. 

As  settlers  began  to  spread  over  the  Great  Central  Valley  and  send 
their  goods  east  to  New  York  by  way  of  the  Mohawk  pass,  the  merchants 
o^  Boston  saw  great  commercial  possibilities  in  this  trade  and  desired  to 
share  in  the  traflic.  In  early  days,  during  the  canal  period,  a  canal  from 
Boston  to  Albany  with  a  tunnel  through  the  Berkshires  was  advocated. 
But  definite  action  to  secure  what  tliey  considered  their  rightful  share  in 
the  traffic  was  deferred  until  the  railroad  period,  when  it  was  again 
brought  forward.  Tliis  resulted  in  the  building  of  the  Boston  and  Albany 
Kailroad  in  1842,  but  this  did  not  produce  what  was  hoped  for.  A  more 
direct  route  was  thouglit  to  be  needed  and  one  of  lower  grades,  and  so  in 
1842  the  Troy  and  Greenfield  R.  R.  was  incorporated.  This  later  came 
to  be  the  Boston  and  Maine  R.  R.  and  made  a  lower  grade  tltrough  the 
mountains  in  western  ^lassachusetts  by  the  construction  of  the  then  won- 
derful Hoosac  tunnel.  This  five-mile  tunnel  was  completed  in  1873,  after 
eighteen  years  of  more  or  less  continuous  labor  at  a  cost  of  f  14,000,000. 

A  writer  in  Scribner's  Magazine  of  1870,  three  years  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  tunnel,  expressed  the  expectation  of  the  New  Englanders. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  wonder  that  tliose  enterprising  gentlemen  who  pro- 
posed during  the  late  war  to  reconstruct  the  map  of  the  United  States, 
leaving  New  England  out  in  the  cold,  did  not  discover  and  point  out  the 
fact  tliat  New  England  -is  divided  froni  the  rest  of  the  country  by  a 
mountain  wall  which  might  well  serve  as  a  boundary  of  a  separate  state. 
*  •  *  *  Tlie  commercial  intercourse  of  New  England  w^ith  the 
West  has  been  greatly  obstructed  by  this  barrier.  The  western  merchant 
arriving  at  Albany  or  Troy  by  railroad  or  canal  finds  a  magnificent  river 
waiting  to  bear  him  and  his  mercliandise  to  New  York;  while  between 
him  and  the  New  England  market  stretches  for  hundreds  of  miles  up 
and  down  an  abrupt  and  difficult  mountain  wall.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  he  goes  to  New  York  with  his  merchandise.  Emigration 
may  follow  parallels  of  latitude,  but  traffic  always  follows  tlie  easiest 
and  shortest  route  with  no  reference  at  all  to  parallels  or  pedigree. 


118  THE  JOURNAL  OF  GEOGRAPHY  January 

"The  people  of  New  England  did  not,  however,  sit  down  behind  their 
mountain  wall  and  suck  their  thumbs.  Close  business  relations  with 
the  gi'eat  West  were  essential  to  tlieir  prosperity  and  they  determined  to 
establish  and  maintain  them.  Some  way  must  be  provided  whereby  a 
share  of  the  western  trade  might  reach  tlieir  markets.  If  the  mountain 
would  not  give  way  to  Mahomet,  Mahomet  must  go  through  the  mountain. 
That  is  how  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  came  to  be  built.  It  is  a  clear  announce- 
ment that  New  England  does  not  intend  to  be  left  out  in  the  cold." 

But,  alas,  the  announcement  was  of  no  avail.  Traffic  continued  to 
follow  "the  easiest  and  shortest"  route  and  New  York  continued  to  get 
the  lion's  share  of  the  western  trade,  and  grew.  In  1790  New  York's 
population  numbered  33,000  to  Boston's  18,000.  By  1850  New  York  had 
grown  to  515,000  while  Boston's  population  numbered  but  137,000;  and 
by  1870  New  York's  numbers  reached  942,000,  while  Boston  numbered 
250,000,  mostly  due  to  the  location  of  New  York  at  the  entrance  to  the 
"Eastern  Gateway  of  the  United  States." 

This  gateway  has  always  had  a  great  influence  on  man.  West  of  it, 
on  the  plains  of  glacial  Lake  Iroquois,  dwelt  many  strong  and  warlike 
Indians  who  used  the  pass  in  the  Mohawk  valley  on  their  expeditions  of 
hunting  or  of  war.  The  Mohawk  was  a  part  of  the  old  Iroquois  trail  that 
led  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk  to  Niagara  Falls.  The  Dutch  fur- 
trader  early  found  his  along  this  same  route.  In  pioneer  days  emigrants 
to  the  West  found  this  their  easiest  road.  It  was  early  given  the  prefer- 
ence in  the  transportion  of  goods  by  wagon  from  the  then  West  to  the 
East.  Along  this  route  was  built  the  first  American  canal  of  any  note, 
and  among  the  first  railroads  in  America  was  one  from  Albany  to  Sche- 
nectady, a  distance  of  eighteen  miles.  Along  it  has  been  concentrated 
many  industries  and  cities,  so  that  "80  per  cent,  of  the  people  and  90 
per  cent,  of  the  wealth  of  the  state  of  New  Y'^ork  is  found  in  the  counties 
bordering  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Erie  Canal."  Today  six  tracks 
lead  through  this  route  from  the  city  of  Buffalo,  which  draws  its  freight 
from  a  large  territory  bordering  the  Great  Lakes.  In  1906  over  4,000,- 
000  tons  of  grain  and  flour  passed  into  the  port  of  Buffalo  and  over 
491,000  thousand  feet  of  lumber  was  unloaded  there  and  at  Tonawanda, 
its  neighbor.  Most  of  this  grain,  flour,  and  lumber  finds  its  way  over  the 
Appalachian  barrier  by  way  of  the  Mohawk-Hudson  route.  The  lines 
to  the  soutli  get  little  of  the  lake  traffic.  Cleveland  in  1906  received  but 
37,000  tons  of  grain,  while  the  receipts  at  Toledo  Avere  but  8,000  tons. 
In  lumber  Cleveland  received  174,000  feet  and  Toledo  38.000.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  rich  industrial  and  agricultural  region  to  the  south  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  the  Pennsylvania  and  other  trans- A"ppalacliian  roads  have 
their  "feeders."  But  so  have  the  roads  that  lead  through  the  Mohawk- 
Hudson  pass,  and  hence  Nature  and  man  have  designed  these  roads  to  be 
the  most  important  of  the  trans-Appalachian  routes. 


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